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American Friends of the National Gallery of Canada Board of Directors

Board of Directors

Thomas P. d’Aquino

Chair, Board of Directors. Chair, Executive Committee

Thomas d’Aquino is Chair of the National Gallery of Canada Foundation and has served on the Board of Directors of the Foundation for more than a decade.

Mr. d’Aquino is an entrepreneur, corporate director, author and educator. He is the founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Intercounsel Ltd., a private venture development and strategic consulting company that he created in the 1970s.

Mr. d’Aquino serves on the Board of Directors of Canada’s largest technology company, Montreal-headquartered CGI Group Inc. He is also a Director of Calgary-based Coril Holdings Ltd., a private company involved in railway maintenance, engineering services, construction, real estate and health sciences.

During his career, Mr. d’Aquino has served as Special Assistant to the Prime Minister of Canada, and from 1981 to 2009, he was Chief Executive of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives (CCCE) – Canada’s most influential business association composed of the chief executives of 150 of the country’s leading enterprises and pre-eminent entrepreneurs. Mr. d’Aquino assumed leadership of the Council in its formative stages. Upon his retirement from the CCCE on December 31, 2009, member companies accounted for $850 billion in annual revenues, $4.5 trillion in assets, and were responsible for the majority of Canada’s private sector exports, investment and training.

Mr. d’Aquino has served as a Director of various arts organizations across Canada and was the founder of the Distinguished Patrons group of the National Gallery of Canada.

Michael J. Tims

Vice-Chair, Board of Directors.

Michael J. Tims is Vice Chairman of MATCO Investments Ltd., a private investment holding company active in the oil and gas and oilfield services industries, real estate and selected other opportunities. Mr. Tims retired from Peters & Co. Limited, a Canadian investment firm specializing in the energy sector, at the end of 2013, after serving in a number of senior executive roles over the past 33 years.

Mr. Tims holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree (with Distinction) and an honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of Calgary, as well as an MBA from Harvard University. He is also a Chartered Business Valuator.

Mr. Tims is the current Chair of the Board of the National Gallery of Canada. He has a long history of involvement with not-for-profit organizations and has received several awards for business achievement and service to the community.

Micheal L. Burch

Treasurer. Chair, Audit Committee

Micheal Burch, CPA, CA, CFP, Managing Partner of Welch LLP since 2006, is responsible for its direction and operations. He provides specialty service support in all areas of strategy and has extensive experience in taxation, financial and estate planning, and cross-border consulting.

Mr. Burch has played an integral part in the development of the Welch Legacy Foundation, the charitable arm of Welch LLP, and actively participates in Welch LLP-sponsored athletic teams. His community involvement includes being a Trustee and Treasurer of the Ottawa Sports Hall of Fame and an active member of the organizing committee for the Ronald McDonald House Ski-Fest. He is also on the Dean’s Advisory Board of the University of Ottawa’s Telfer School of Management. Mr. Burch joined the National Gallery of Canada Foundation Board in December 2012.

Harriet (Hatty) Reisman

Corporate Secretary

Harriet Reisman is the founder of Reisman Law Offices, a boutique corporate practice with emphasis on the entertainment and media sectors. Previous roles include General Counsel and Corporate Secretary to public companies, Atlantis Communications and Nelvana Limited. She was a founding partner of Heenan Blaikie’s Toronto office, has worked in the public sector and was the COO of Salter New Media and Easter Seals.

A graduate of the Institute of Corporate Directors (ICD), Ms. Reisman is also on the Board of Directors of the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, Canadian Women in Communications and Kids Help Phone. She is the past Chair of SPRINT and has served on the boards of Enwave and the Factory Theatre, as well as numerous specialty television channels, including Life Network (now SLICE), HGTV, YTV, The Documentary Channel and Country Canada.

Michael G. Adams

Director

Michael Adams has had a career of over 30 years in the banking and financial services industry. He is currently Senior Vice President of Brookfield Soundvest, Ottawa’s oldest investment counselling firm. Mr. Adams began his career as a management trainee in the international division of the Bank of Montreal where he served in different parts of Canada, London, England and New York City at increasing levels of executive responsibility.

Before his recent return to Canada to join Brookfield Soundvest, he ran a wealth management group for one of the largest financial services companies in the U.S. Mr. Adams is associated with several non-profit organizations in Ottawa, including the Ottawa Food Bank, of which he is a director and former Chair of the board. He is a former VP Finance, Treasurer and director of the Indo-Canada Ottawa Business Chamber (ICOBC).

Linda Black

Director

A lawyer since 1976, Linda Black, QC, has practised in Newfoundland and Alberta, most recently as General Counsel for a large university. Ms. Black has also been a member of a provincial administrative tribunal, chairing panels for several years, and she was a member of a federal government task force reporting on governance and cultural issues within the RCMP.

Ms. Black has served on several not-for-profit boards, including the CBC/Radio-Canada and The Banff Centre.

Ann Bowman

Chair, Investment Committee.

As a Regional Vice President, Ann Bowman is responsible for managing RBC Royal Bank’s commercial client relationships. She leads a team established in markets across the Eastern half of Ontario. She is also responsible for managing RBC’s technology, life science and clean technology banking teams across the province.

Ms. Bowman joined RBC in 1986, and subsequently held a number of positions in commercial and corporate banking. Prior to her current role, she was Vice President of Distribution Strategy. Additional executive roles include: VP of Strategy for Canadian Banking, VP eBusiness Architecture and VP Sales Strategy.

She currently sits as a Director with the Ontario Chamber of Commerce. Ms. Bowman has previously served on a number of boards, including Women’s College Hospital Foundation, Sunnybrook Hospital and Peggy Baker Dance Projects.

She is bilingual and holds a Baccalauréat en Sciences Economiques from the Université Laval and an MBA from Queen’s University, as well as her CFA Level III (AIMR).

Bernard A. Courtois

Director

Bernard Courtois joined the Board of the National Gallery of Canada more than 15 years ago. At the time, he was a senior executive with Bell Canada, one of the Founding Partners of the Foundation. Upon retirement from Bell Canada, he became President and CEO of the Information Technology Association of Canada (ITAC), the national association for the digital technology industry in Canada. He retired from ITAC in 2011 and currently serves as the President of the Treasury Board of Canada’s Advisory Panel on Open Government. He is also a former President of the International Institute of Communications, based in London, England.

Fred S. Fountain

Director

A founding partner of the law firm Franklin, Mitton, Fountain and Thompson, Fred Fountain is currently counsel to the law firm Burke Thompson and Chancellor of Dalhousie University. A member of the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society since 1975, he was Judge and Chairman of the Regional Assessment Appeal Court from 1980 to 1989, and has been President and Chief Executive Officer of The Great Eastern Corporation Limited since 1985.

Former Chairman of the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, and formerly a Trustee of the National Gallery of Canada, Mr. Fountain was Chair of the Working Miracles Capital Campaign for the QEII Hospital, which raised over $44 million. Among his other volunteer commitments, he sits on the Board of Governors at Dalhousie University, Board of Directors of the Scotia Festival of Music, and World Wildlife Fund Canada (Atlantic Advisory Council).

A Member of the Order of Canada, Mr. Fountain was also awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal and the Diamond Jubilee Medal, and has been named Philanthropist of the Year and Canadian Red Cross Humanitarian of the Year.

Reesa Greenberg

Director

Reesa Greenberg is a Canadian art historian who writes and teaches about exhibition histories, museums and art world responses to the internet. Her work focuses on national, gendered and ethnic identities; war and contemporary art/architecture; and the production of historical consciousness in current museum and exhibition practices. Her recent writings identify and analyze new exhibition genres (restitution exhibitions, remembering exhibitions, aggregate exhibitions) as manifestations of contemporary politics in and outside the art world.

Thinking About Exhibitions, which she co-edited with Bruce Ferguson and Sandy Nairne, remains a classic in the field. Ms. Greenberg’s essays and reviews have been published in Canadian Art, Parachute, RACAR, Intermédialités, Tate Papers, Gradiva, Kritische Berichte, Ethnologies, Jong Holland, De Witte Raaf, Novye Gazetta and The Journal for Curatorial Studies, as well as numerous anthologies. Greenberg has consulted on exhibitions and installations for the Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton; the Jewish Historical Museum, Amsterdam; and the exhibition Mirroring Evil, at the Jewish Museum, New York.

She has been Associate Professor of Art History at Concordia University, Montreal; Adjunct Professor of Art History at Carleton University, Ottawa and at York University, Toronto; and Visiting Professor at The California College of the Arts, San Francisco, and Moscow State University for the Humanities. She chaired the Advisory Board of the Carleton University Art Gallery and acts as an Advisor to the Acquisition Committee of the Board of Trustees, National Gallery of Canada.

Michelle Koerner

Director

Michelle Koerner has had a long professional association with the arts in Toronto. Working in marketing, she has held senior positions with The Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto International Film Festival, Rogers Broadcasting and TVOntario.

Ms. Koerner has volunteered on various culture-related boards and committees. With a strong interest in the integration of arts and education, she has involved herself with organizations that integrate both. Currently, she serves on the board of Canada's National Ballet School (past Chair of Nominating and Board Governance committees) and the executive of Partners in Art, an award-winning group that supports the visual arts in Toronto. She is also a member of the National Gallery of Canada on the Venice Biennale in addition to recently joining the NGC Foundation Board.

In the past, she served on the marketing/sponsorship board subcommittee of the Canadian Film Centre and a committee for the Canadian Art Foundation. She also has served on the alumni board of Havergal College and participated in the Mentor Program in the Faculty of Commerce at the University of Toronto.

Murray MacDonald

Director

Murray MacDonald is the Senior Director of Public Affairs at Bell Canada. In addition to his Public Affairs role, he also leads Bell’s national community investment program, supporting the company’s internationally recognized Bell Let’s Talk mental health initiative. With more than 25 years experience in government, Crown corporation and private sector public affairs, he has worked with and advised senior executives and government officials on a wide range of issues.

A graduate of the University of Ottawa, from which he received both an MA and BA in English, he is past President of Ottawa’s Thirteen String chamber orchestra, and a past Vice-President of SOS Children’s Villages Canada, the Canadian arm of the world’s largest charity for orphaned and abandoned children.

Michael O'Brian

Director

A dedicated arts philanthropist, Michael O'Brian is a successful B.C.-based investor and businessperson. He is president of Nairbo Investments Inc., and has been involved with the securities industry for over 40 years.

Mr. O’Brian is actively involved in community affairs. He is a director of the Vancouver Art Gallery, a member of the Board of Governors of Emily Carr University of Art and Design, a past trustee of the Vancouver Art Gallery and the Museum of Anthropology, and a former member of the Dean’s Advisory Board of the Faculty of Arts at the University of British Columbia.

He is the founder and a director of the Satellite Gallery, a non-profit art gallery with a vision to create a space in downtown Vancouver that provides education and experience in the arts, and opportunities for student mentorship.

An advisor to Create Change Foundation, an NGO, which is currently sending over 1000 young girls to school in Ghana, Mr. O’Brian is also a director of the Thomas Foundation and President of the Michael O’Brian Family Foundation, whose main focus is the arts and education.

Ash K. Prakash

Director

A. K. Prakash is an independent art historian and advisor, based in Toronto, with a varied and distinguished career spanning over four decades and culminating in his appointment as a Privy Council Officer of Canada. He served as Advisor to the Cabinet Secretariats of two Prime Ministers, as well as to the Canada Council for the Arts and CBC, Ottawa; UNESCO, Paris, Teheran and New Delhi; and the UN Development Program, New York and Cairo. Additionally, he has guided the formation of some of North America's most prominent art collections and several corporate and private art collections.

Mr. Prakash is the author of several publications on art, including Canadian Art: Selected Masters from Private Collections (2003); Independent Spirit: Early Canadian Women Artists (2008) and Impressionism in Canada: A Journey of Rediscovery (2014).

As a Founding Chairman of the A. K. Prakash Foundation, he has sponsored major national and international exhibitions and scholarly publications promoting Canadian historical art. He also established an international post-graduate surgical training program for physicians from the developing world at the University of Toronto.

Donald R. Sobey

Director

Donald R. Sobey is Chair Emeritus of Empire Company Limited. He is the founder of the D&R Sobey Scholarship Fund at Queen's University, and a member of the Trilateral Commission and the Tate Americas Foundation (Tate Museum UK). Mr. Sobey has served as a director of Sobeys Inc. since 1998 and of earlier Sobeys companies beginning in 1963. Mr. Sobey was President of the Company from 1969 until his appointment as Chair in 1985. He was Chair of the Company until his appointment as Chair Emeritus in 2004. He is also past Chairman of the National Gallery of Canada, past Chairman of Maritime Tel & Tel and past director of the World Wildlife Fund.

Mr. Sobey previously served as a director of the following publicly traded companies: TD Bank; Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc.; High Liner Foods Limited; and Trader Classified Media NV. Mr. Sobey holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Queen's University. He also received honorary degrees from Dalhousie University, Mount Allison University, St. Francis Xavier University, the University of King's College, the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design and the Nova Scotia Community College.

Management

Karen Colby-Stothart

Chief Executive Officer

Karen Colby-Stothart holds a Bachelor of Arts, Honours (1983) in Art History and a Masters degree in Art Conservation (1986) from Queen’s University in Kingston. Her career in the arts stretches over 30 years with major Canadian museums such as the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and the National Gallery of Canada, where she most recently held the position of Deputy Director, Exhibitions and Outreach.

Under her direction, the National Gallery of Canada presented programming of the very highest calibre to Canadians across the country and showcased Canada’s artists to the world. She is known for her experience in management, for building key relationships and new alliances and for her tremendous passion for the visual arts.

American Friends of the National Gallery of Canada

Thomas P. d’Aquino

Chair, Board of Directors

Thomas d’Aquino is Chair of the National Gallery of Canada Foundation and has served on the Board of Directors of the Foundation for more than a decade.

Mr. d’Aquino is an entrepreneur, corporate director, author and educator. He is the founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Intercounsel Ltd., a private venture development and strategic consulting company that he created in the 1970s.

Mr. d’Aquino serves on the Board of Directors of Canada’s largest technology company, Montreal-headquartered CGI Group Inc. He is also a Director of Calgary-based Coril Holdings Ltd., a private company involved in railway maintenance, engineering services, construction, real estate and health sciences.

During his career, Mr. d’Aquino has served as Special Assistant to the Prime Minister of Canada, and from 1981 to 2009, he was Chief Executive of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives (CCCE) – Canada’s most influential business association composed of the chief executives of 150 of the country’s leading enterprises and pre-eminent entrepreneurs. Mr. d’Aquino assumed leadership of the Council in its formative stages. Upon his retirement from the CCCE on December 31, 2009, member companies accounted for $850 billion in annual revenues, $4.5 trillion in assets, and were responsible for the majority of Canada’s private sector exports, investment and training.

Mr. d’Aquino has served as a Director of various arts organizations across Canada and was the founder of the Distinguished Patrons group of the National Gallery of Canada.

Peter G. Restler

Secretary

Peter Restler, based in New York, is Chairman and a Founding Partner of CAI, a private equity firm, which was established in 1989 and invests in both Canada and the U.S. Prior to the formation of CAI, Mr. Restler was an investment banker with a long involvement with Canada.

Mr. Restler has been a Board Member of The Corix Group, Livingston International, MacDonald Dettwiler & Associates and Zenith Laboratories. From 1993 to 1998, he served as U.S. Chair of the North American Committee, an organization comprised of leading representatives from business, labour and academia.

He is a graduate of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.